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Practice Instructions to Sangye Kyap

The lord who's blessed by glorious Naropa and MaitripaIs Marpa the Translator, at his feet I bow.

The great teachers who only have the Dharma in their speechAre expert at explaining things in an extensive way.But when it's time for body and awareness to part ways,Their Dharma verbosity dissolves into the sky.Luminosity's shining door is obscured by ignorance,And they cringe in their fear of the Dharmakaya that shines at death.They spend their whole life studying large baskets of the teachings,But when body and mind part ways, that does not help at all.

The great meditators who meditate in shamathaHave powerful experiences, so brilliant and clear.They think that it's vipashyana and rest their minds at ease,But when vipashyana is needed at the point of death,Luminosity's mother and child they cannot bring together,And so the shamatha they've practiced does not help at all.In fact, has it not made them take birth as an animal?Now son, supreme protector, straighten up and listen here:

When you place your body right and rest yourself in equipoise,And concepts stop and then appearances all shut down too,Your shamatha has sunk deep down into a darkened state,So rouse yourself with mindfulness and it will be like this:Just like a candle flame, mind will illuminate itself,Like a flower, it will naturally be so vivid and clear,And like when you look up into a sky that's clear and bright,Awareness-emptiness is naked, open clarity.

When free of thoughts, your mind settles so luminous and clear,That is called the dawning of shamatha experience.Now take that experience and make it your foundation,Then supplicate the precious jewels and do as you've prayed you would:Listen to and reflect on Dharma with supreme precision,Then use vipashyana to understand selflessness well.Tie to this the sturdy rope of powerful shamatha,And with the mighty strength that's found in love and compassion,For the benefit of sentient beings, give rise to bodhichitta,

And with the energy and force that bodhichitta brings,Use aspiration prayers so pure to start hauling on that rope,And pull it straight to the pure path of seeing directly.Vipashyana will realize purity that can't be seen,And then you'll see mind's hopes and fears for what they really are.Without going anywhere, you'll arrive at the Buddha's ground.Without looking at anything, you'll see Dharmakaya.Without achieving anything, you'll naturally reach your goal.My son, Genyen Sangye Kyap, work with mind like this.